A Story About Soulmates
by DaniiButNotBeck
Summary: "I'll always love you, at any time in any universe." / Or: Alex and Olivia always seems to end up back together no matter how much the universe tries to keep them apart.
1. New York City - 2012-2017

Setting: New York City

Year: 2012/2017

…

Alex leaves again on March 31, 2012, and Olivia only wishes she could be surprised. It's not that it doesn't hurt to watch her walk into the airport – on the contrary it hurts even more to watch her leave this time than it did all those years ago when her life was in danger; at least she didn't have a choice that time, but since then she's left and come back so many times that Olivia almost expects it now. It seems like every time things are going well for them something comes along and fucks it all up (Olivia isn't surprised by that either; that's pretty much the story of her life).

She sends Olivia pictures from the plane of rolling hills, snow-covered plains, cities that look like bright dots in a sea of darkness, all captioned the same way: "Love you. Miss you. Wish you were here." (If Olivia didn't know better, she'd think Alex was just copying and pasting the message after every picture, but…she does know better). And it isn't long before she makes an Instagram to document her travels; Olivia follows this with rapt attention, committing each and every one of Alex's smiles to memory.

The days pass in a blur; Olivia finds herself staring at her phone until the pictures come in, always relieved when Alex's name pops up on her screen, and it's nothing short of a miracle that her work doesn't suffer (but who would say, honestly, if it did? Surely not the new kids, maybe Munch or Fin but they figured out years ago what Alex means to her. Cragen would if he saw a significant issue. Elliot for sure, but it's been a year since they last spoke, and Olivia's not quite sure if she's ready for him right now).

The world keeps spinning and life gets busy and Olivia wakes up one morning and realizes Alex has been gone for nearly five years now. It hits her like a punch how quickly time has gone by, how easy it was for them to fall apart again, how it's been over a year since they last spoke. And she knows she shouldn't be surprised but she hasn't even thought about Alex in months.

It all hurts so fucking much that she's almost grateful when she gets called to a crime scene. Almost.

The hotel is one of the nicer ones downtown and their victim is a housekeeper who was found by the manager when she didn't clock out at the end of her shift. Olivia sends Rollins to get background info and she stays behind to interview guests on the floor and the management.

She's standing in the hotel bar, talking to a couple from a few rooms down, when she sees a flash of familiar blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. She quickly finishes her conversation with the couple and gives them her card, instructing them to call her if they remember anything else, and then turns to look toward the bar entrance.

"Buy you a drink, Detective?"

She'd know that voice anywhere.

Olivia turns around, her heart hammering in her chest. "10:30 in the morning is a little early for a drink, counselor."

Alex winks – Olivia thinks she might die on the spot – and flashes her a grin. "I won't tell if you don't."

"Alex, what are you doing here? When did you get back? I thought you were in" – she pauses her, trying to remember the last place Alex posted about – "Seattle?"

"I was," Alex says, downing the rest of her drink, "but I missed…the city. It was time to come home."

Olivia nods, absently playing with the corner of one of her cards. There are so many things she wants to say, questions she wants to demand answers to, but mostly she just wants to reach out, tangle her fingers in Alex's hair and kiss her senseless. But she doesn't do that; she stands there, waits for Alex to offer anything.

She doesn't have to wait long.

"I missed you. Us. I realized that time isn't slowing down for us, Liv, and I don't want to grow old without you. So I came back to tell you that I fucked up when I left again and I don't want you to forgive me for that, but I do want you to say yes when I ask you to marry me."

And even though they may fall apart time and time again, they always fall back together, and Olivia feels like maybe that's what matters most.

"Okay," she says, "I'll marry you."

* * *

I'm finally back! What a miracle! Let me tell you that it's been almost a year and SO MUCH has happened but that's a story for tumblr. So let's get back to this! This is A Story About Soulmates and I'll try to update it every week, but I need your help. Hit me up with AUs and time periods because these two are gonna fall in love all through history and in every universe.


	2. Boston - 2023

Setting: Boston Sanctuary

Year: 2023

…

"Day 1493," Alex says, looking into the camera on her computer. "They've managed to restore power to the sanctuary permanently. It's been two weeks since our last power outage, so I can say that now." She pauses momentarily, running her hand through her hair and grimacing at the greasy feeling. "They say running water is next, but I'll believe that when I see it. Anyway, word at the common area is the rescue team came back with more survivors last night – some cops and their families from New York City. Langan seems to think they won't stay long but he also said they wouldn't be able to fix the electricity, so…take that as you will. Still no news on my parents; I'll keep you updated."

With that, Alex closes the recording program and shuts down the computer. She leans back in her chair for a few minutes, lost in thought until someone knocks on her dorm door. She startles, nearly falling off her chair. Righting herself, she eyes the door warily; no one ever shows up unannounced anymore – not since she almost shot Langan that one time the day she arrived (not her fault – she had just settled into her room after a year on the road and she wasn't expecting company; he should've knocked rather than just walking in…though she has to admit: hearing him yelp and fall to the ground is something that still makes her laugh).

"Open the door, Alex," Liz Donnelly says, and Alex breathes out a sigh of relief.

She jumps out of her chair and hurries across the room, throwing open the door, excited to see her aunt for the first time in months. "Liz, It's–" and Alex just. Stops. Stares at the woman standing beside Liz. She's gorgeous, Alex thinks, even exhausted and beaten down. She's got this kind of rough look to her, like nothing would stop her from putting a bullet in you if you wronged her in any way, but it's offset by her kind eyes, and she's exactly the type of woman Alex would've taken home before the whole world fell apart.

"Alex," Liz says with a quirk of her eyebrow, and Alex's face burns with embarrassment at being caught staring. "This is Olivia Benson. She's one of the cops from New York Trevor undoubtedly told you about. She's going to be staying with you until we figure out a permanent housing plan. _Make her feel welcome_." Liz looks at her pointedly and then turns and whispers something to Olivia that makes her smile and that's when Alex knows she's officially screwed.

…

They've been living together for a month when Olivia decides to approach the topic. "So," she says, setting her lunch tray down on their usual table in the cafeteria (Alex immediately reaches over and steals the grapes off it, replacing them with her own orange), "the day I moved in Liz told you to make me feel welcome–"

"And I have," Alex cuts in.

Olivia nods. "You have. I just want to know why she had to tell you to."

Alex blanches, nearly choking on the food in her mouth. She swallows hard, coughing until the choking feeling has stopped, and then takes a sip of her water.

Olivia stares at her, eyebrow quirked, smirk playing at her lips. "That bad, huh?"

Despite the ever-growing blush creeping up her neck, Alex grins. "I almost shot my roommate when I first got here. You remember Trevor Langan?" Olivia nods. "Well, we grew up together and Liz thought it would be a good idea to have us room together because he's been here since the beginning. I guess he didn't realize what it was like on the road and he opened the door without any warning and I…pulled a gun on him. I apologized and he understood, but I went out of my way to make his life miserable after that. And then I may have made my following roommates feel just as…unwelcome." Alex grins, not looking sheepish at all.

Olivia laughs. "Well you haven't made me feel unwelcome, so cheers to the both of us." She lightly taps her glass of water against Alex's before downing half of it. She tilts her head, just looking at Alex, and Alex feels herself start to squirm. "Why is that?"

Before Alex can respond, the bell sounds, signaling the end of their lunch break. She jumps up quickly, sending a "See you tonight" over her shoulder, and hurries out of the cafeteria, leaving Olivia staring after her.

…

They've been living together for six months before Alex realizes that Liz never put a room order in for Olivia.

She's been working in the housing department at the library-turned-City-Hall for a few weeks, covering for Kathy while she's out on maternity leave, when she finally has a reason to open the housing request list: There was a sudden influx of new arrivals overnight. Alex loves that, loves knowing that there are still people surviving out there, loves seeing their little community start to prosper. But she can't focus on any of that right now because Olivia's name was never added to the housing request list and Alex knows that should bother her but she really likes living with Olivia.

And really this realization is downright frightening.

It's not that she didn't know she's attracted to Olivia – she's known that from the moment they met. It's that, looking at it now, she can see that this is something more than being attracted to her and it's something different than the friendship she knew they were cultivating…and maybe she's in love.

Yeah. She's in love.

This realization doesn't scare her – it feels right, warm and comfortable, like coming home after a long day.

She's the first one out the door when the lunch bell rings. She rushes through the compound, bypassing the cafeteria and heading straight for the security center. She knows Olivia always takes a couple extra minutes to get out of the building, always caught up in some conversation with a coworker about New York City before the virus.

The wait outside the building feels like an eternity but the beaming smile Alex gets when Olivia sees her is more than worth it. Without even a moment's hesitation, she walks up to Olivia, and with no regard for the surroundings at all, she kisses her. They stay like that, just for a moment, and when Alex pulls back they're both grinning.

"I'm sorry," Alex says, not really looking sorry at all. "I know I should have asked first, and I just want you to know that I love you."

"You love me?" Olivia asks.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

…

"Day 1977," Alex says, grinning as she looks into the camera on her computer. Olivia is sitting beside her, head rested on her shoulder. "It's been a week since our last video because we've been on our honeymoon!"

Olivia laughs. "Which is just Alex's way of saying we've been hiding in our room and no one has been allowed to bother us."

"Except my parents."

"Except her parents."

"Who have been here sixty days now and still haven't figured out the lay of the land, which is fine, really, because I'm just happy they're here."

"We found them during a scouting mission. They'd hidden themselves away in a warehouse a few towns over."

"It was ingenious, really."

"I've only seen Alex cry three times in the 484 days we've been living together: the day she proposed, the day we brought her parents home, and the day we got married."

"Meanwhile, Olivia's cried at least once every week."

Olivia feels her ears go red. "That's not true."

Alex nods. "It's true."

"Anyway," Olivia says, sitting up just so she can bump her shoulder into Alex's, "we finally have running water."

"So Langan can shove that up his ass."

"Well, that's all we have time for today."

"She wants to get back to enjoying the rest of our honeymoon."

"I do. Until next time." Olivia closes the recording program and shut the computer down. She looks over at Alex, grinning. "I love you."

Alex smiles back. "I love you," she says, just as giddy now as she was the first time.

…

* * *

stay tuned for chapter 3 coming to you at some point soon


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